Monday, January 31, 2011

Dakar Rally 2011

Dakar Rally began in Buenos Aires with a ceremonial parade of hundreds of cars who went to the famous obelisk on Saturday, Jan. 1. 16-day trip would lead pilots to 9,499 km across northern Argentina, the Andes, Chile's Atacama Desert, then back to the capital of Argentina. Registered a record number of pilots - 430, last year the rally was attended by only 362 riders. However, the number of starters in the rally is always lower. This year the route goes north-west from Buenos Aires to Chile. Then the riders heading north through the Atacama Desert, then to Arica in the far north of Chile, on the border with Peru.Then the race turns south, back to Argentina on Jan. 12. It ended on January 16 in Buenos Aires. Rally is always held in Europe and Africa, but in 2008 the race postponed because of the danger of terrorist attacks. The following year she was "moved" to South America. Rally held on the continent in summer, when everywhere vacation.